Sensor devices are fast becoming ubiquitous. For example, a conventional mobile telephone can include microphones, video cameras, accelerometers, GPS sensors, etc. Some sensors that can be found in the home environment, however, may give rise to privacy concerns for users in the home environment. For example, a conventional television (and/or an accessory for a television) can be equipped with a video camera and microphone. A signal output by a video camera and/or a microphone can be processed by a processing device, and a television can present content to a viewer based upon the processing of such signal. For instance, the viewer can audibly emit the statement “show me movies starring Humphrey Bogart,” and the television can present a list of selectable tiles, wherein each tile represents a respective movie starring the aforementioned actor. Likewise, a signal output by the video camera can indicate that the viewer performed a particular gesture, and content can be presented to the viewer based upon the gesture being recognized. For instance, a flick of a wrist can cause a channel to be changed, can cause a volume of audio output by the television and/or associated audio system to be altered, etc.
Generally, when a device that includes a sensor is on, the sensor itself is on and generating data that is indicative of a state of the surroundings of the sensor. Referring to the exemplary scenario noted above, a microphone of a television can capture audio while the television is on, often unbeknownst to a viewer. Still further, some conventional devices are configured to transmit captured signals (or features representative thereof) to a computing device used in a cloud service, wherein the computing device analyzes the signals for purposes of voice recognition, facial recognition, gesture recognition, etc., and performs an action when a word is recognized, when a face is identified, etc. The cloud service then discards the received signals.
As noted above, users may have privacy concerns when their respective actions can be captured by such sensors. For example, a malicious hacker may potentially reprogram a processor that is in communication with the sensor, thereby causing captured signals to be transmitted to a data store chosen by the malicious hacker (e.g., where the signals can be retained and reviewed unbeknownst to a person whose actions are captured in a sensor stream). Further, data transmitted from the device that includes the sensor to the computing device used in the cloud service may include sufficient information to allow words spoken by the viewer to be reconstructed, to allow the viewer to be identified, etc. This again gives rise to privacy concerns, as data can be intercepted during transmission.